Talk:Superwine
Oh that wacky SuperBasil. Even getting blitzed leads to heroics. So what was this special wine? Was it spiked with a flavorless clear liquor such as vodka? Turtle Fan 16:24, September 26, 2011 (UTC) :Nah, its the invention of distillation. A tavern owner invents the process through trial and error and Basil ties one on through ignorance. So no, "superwine" is a type of brandy. ML4E 18:14, September 26, 2011 (UTC) ::I see. The bit about it tasting like watery wine threw me. I seldom drink wine outside of church, and brandy even more rarely, but I have always found the two tastes to be quite distinct. But then, there are many kinds of brandies, and one that's brought about through the experimental invention of distillation would be unlike most that I've tried. ::I'm intrigued that a tavernkeeper would want to sell booze that was stronger than the customer expected. It could work if he's got some sort of con planned that depends on the customer being sloshed, but generally you want the customer to pay for the booze. Unless you're passing cheap rotgut off as something more expensive, but since Basil didn't seem to mind that the wine tasted watery he couldn't have been running up too high a tab. Turtle Fan 23:11, September 26, 2011 (UTC) :It's "watered wine" not "watery wine", that is wine that has had water added to it. It was the standard Roman (and apparently Byzantine) way to drink wine. When Basil ordered it, it cost three times as much as ordinary wine and burned on its way down. However, having no experience with spirits, he continued to drink it like regular wine and became falling down drunk. At least, his legs didn't want to work when he tried to stand and go home so he slept it off in the tavern. ML4E 20:08, September 27, 2011 (UTC) I got a Kindle Fire for Christmas and was debating what should be the first book I read on it. I finally decided on Lest Darkness Fall, as I've always meant to read it but never got around to it. . . . Anyway, the fallen-through-time hero tries to support himself by "inventing" brandy. He offers it to someone who belongs in that time period and what follows is very, very similar to the above. I can't imagine HT not thinking of that scene on some level when he wrote this story. Turtle Fan 05:53, January 7, 2012 (UTC) :Enjoy LDF. A co-worker from my comic book shop days lent me his copy and all but ordered me to read it. I appreciated the gesture, but was a nervous wreck since his copy had been autographed by de Camp. But I did like the book quite a bit. ::Oh geez--Yes, I can imagine. Turtle Fan 17:40, January 7, 2012 (UTC) :That scene where the Orthodox fellow who complains that he's being persecuted because he has to stand by while the empire tolerates other relgions and creeds should probably be mandatory reading for anyone taking any oath of office in this country. TR 06:00, January 7, 2012 (UTC) ::That did make me quite grateful for the Free Exercise clause, yes. Turtle Fan 17:40, January 7, 2012 (UTC)